Soo Photography Blog

Speaking for Smugmug in WPPI, world's largest photography tradeshow

2010-03-06T23:40:00.000-08:00

2010 has been kind to us. All our photography workshops and classes have been jam-packed and we're really fortunate to share our experience and knowledge with the photography community.

Smugmug (a premiere multimedia hosting/sharing/selling site) sponsors a handful of photographers around the world to speak in Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI). For those who are not familiar with WPPI, it is THE largest annual photography convention in the world. Tens of thousands of photographers from across the globe will make their yearly pilgrimage to Las Vegas to learn, share and experience.

So, when Smugmug asked us to speak for them, amongst the likes of David Jay (entrepreneur and photographer); Robert Evans (photographer who shot the weddings of Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes and Brad Pitt & Jennifer Aniston, etc.), it's quite an honor and a humbling experience. Here are the speaker schedule at the WPPI tradeshow.

Monday March 8

10:00 AM to 10:20 AM Gustavo Fernandez

10:30 AM to 10:50 AM Peter Garr

11:00 AM to 11:20 AM Robert Evans

11:30 AM to 11:50 AM Michael Soo YAY!

12 Noon to 12:20 PM ShowIt

1:00 PM to 1:20 PM JVS

1:30 PM to 1:50 PM ShootDotEdit

2:00 PM to 2:20 PM Tofurious

2:30 PM to 2:50 PM Katie Humphreys

3:00 PM to 3:20 PM Scott Jarvie

Tuesday March 9

10:00 AM to 10:20 AM Jefferson Todd

10:30 AM to 10:50 AM Bob & Dawn Davis

11:00 AM to 11:20 AM Steve & Jenn Bebb

11:30 AM to 11:50 AM Bui Brothers

12 Noon to 12:20 PM Alex Garza

1:00 PM to 1:20 PM Michael Soo YAY!

1:30 PM to 1:50 PM Robert Evans

2:00 PM to 2:20 PM Dawn McCarthy

2:30 PM to 2:50 PM ShowIt

3:00 PM to 3:20 PM JVS

3:30 PM – 4:00 PM ShootDotEdit

Wednesday March 10

10:00 AM to 10:20 AM Tofurious

10:30 AM to 10:50 AM Katie Humphreys

11:00 AM to 11:20 AM Pepper Nix & Mitch Burt

11:30 AM to 11:50 AM Gustavo Fernandez

12 Noon to 12:20 PM Jefferson Todd

1:00 PM to 1:20 PM Peter Garr

1:30 PM to 1:50 PM Steve & Jenn Bebb

2:00 PM to 2:20 PM Bui Brothers

2:30 PM to 2:50 PM Alex Garza

Wedding photo albums | Guest Albums that WOWs !!

2010-02-19T15:42:00.000-08:00

Wedding album design isn't a chore for us. It's an exhilarating part of our wedding package and photography process. It gives us a lot to look forward to.

Ever tried to buy a special gift for someone close to you, carefully wrap it and place it under the christmas tree? Despite Christmas being a week away, you can't wait to see the expression of that special someone when they open that present, right? THAT's exactly how we feel when we design wedding album.

This particular album is done for Christine and Ben. We were so excited about showing them the album that we photographed the albums and email them these teasers,

(click on images to enlarge - then use arrow keys)

(Ben wrote me an email within minutes saying, "We're on our way over") ;-)

Now, what makes the Queensberry line of albums from New Zealand, our selected album maker is beyond their scrumptious leather, suedes, silks, buckram and bengalines. It's their hand crafted treasures, an extension of style, design and absolute exquisite photographic albums that retain memories. Their albums are the absolute best out there and we are glad that we are a selected few in the country that carry these albums. Don't take our word for it, check out the guest album and engagement album that we created for Christine and Ben for their May 15th Wedding in The Ahwahnee Hotel located within the Yosemite National Park. Wedding photography in Yosemite and the Ahwahnee will be absolutely fun and exciting. I can't wait to photograph there again!

(click on images to enlarge - then use arrow keys)

Profoto blogs on our zen path

2010-02-16T10:31:00.000-08:00

(Click above to read the blog, retweet and comment)

So we are truly blessed to be blogged by Profoto. They are possibly the highest end and one of the largest lighting company for commercial and advertising photographers around the world. Their reach is quite phenomenal. We were working in Intel Developer's Forum in Shanghai, trying to rent light for an on-stage demonstration to 10,000-20,000 attendees. We searched high and low in the metropolitan city for dependable lighting packs. The only ones that we are the Profotos.

We used to use monoblocks; however, our work on fashion, product, commercial and advertising means that the light source's color rendition needs to be highly accurate. You really don't want your blue dress to look magenta, do you? ;-)

Good Lighting is....definitely Priceless!

Magazine's Back/ Front Cover & Food Photography

2010-02-15T23:30:00.000-08:00

Very excited to announce the release of the Nesting Newbies, Winter 2010 issue!. This issue's really cooking!! The food section was shot in Christopher Peacock's Cabinetry Showroom in San Francisco. Christopher, the English kitchen designer has a client list that includes the Clintons, Mariah Carey, Toni Morrison and the likes. His kitchen won the 2008 Kitchen of the Year!

With great kitchens, should good food be prepared! Along with good food, must great food photography be designed.

Why "design"? Magazine layouts dictate the orientation and composition of each shot. So, thinking and planning with the final design in mind will ensure that the photographs are crafted for the text, design and layout. It is imperative to think 10 steps ahead when it comes to nearly all genre of photography. It's like playing a good game of chess.

Here we photographed not only most of the food showcased in the magazine (without a food stylist, might I add), but all 10-20 food items in just a few mere hours. Such method of shooting will drive insane all, but the most hardened food photographers.

Here on the left is a brandied tomato cream soup. It is absolutely delicious but REALLY? Soup like these should not be poured into cup this size. It's such a tease. Plus, I can't stick my tongue too far into the cup when I'm finished, to lick up the remains.

This is definitely a great magazine that I would read from cover to cover. Well done, team!!

Yosemite National Park & Ahwahnee Hotel Engagement Portraits | Christine & Ben

2010-02-14T00:38:00.000-08:00

What turns a landscape/fashion/wedding photographer on? An engagement session in Yosemite National Park, California of course!!! I was like a kid in Disneyland, frolicking from one spot to another, having a field day!!!

This was for Christine & Ben's Engagement shoot. They are expert photographers themselves, in their very rights. Their home is sprinkled with amazing landscape imagery from wall to wall. Absolutely stunning work! Ben showed me his Phase One P45 digital back and a Mamiya 645AFD. For those who doesn't know what I'm blabbering about, these are Ferraris of cameras. Yes, if you were to sell the above two equipment, you can easily buy TWO Toyota Prius. Although with the current recall situation, I would avoid Toyota for now.

Being a photographer, Ben's awesome, he'd spot interesting camera angles to be photographed. I was impressed and told him that he should quit his job in Google to come be my photography assistant. For some unknown reason, he just ignored me. :(

Their wedding is set for May 2010 at The Ahwahnee Hotel, in Yosemite Valley. Being in Yosemite is fun enough but in The Ahwahnee Hotel? Oh my God! There is just no comparison when it comes to the Ahwahnee. With the distinction as a Four-Diamond hotel and designated as a National Historic Landmark, Queen Elizabeth II stayed in the Ahwahnee when she visited Yosemite. So did a host of celebrities and royalties; Mel Gibson (while filming Maverick), John F Kennedy, Herbert Hoover, Eleanor Rosevelt, just to name a few.

The temperature was 36 degrees Farenheit and Christine wore nothing more than a bareback dress. She is such a trooper. I do also have to say that she is possibly one of the most delightful person to be around. I'm not exaggerating when I claim that everything appears so much more joyous and lively when she walks into the room.

The amazing engagement shoot is featured in the below cinema. I choose Feb 14 to blog about this, not just because it's Valentine's day, but rather, they are on my mind and their Guest Album and Engagement Album JUST arrived. More on those in my next blog!

(View HD version instead)

Our Photos on Engadget & Gizmodo!

2010-02-12T11:10:00.000-08:00

Remember the slashdot days, where a website gets completely overwhelmed when it was linked from slashdot.org. That's where the term Slashdot Effect comes from.

This happened to our website today. Fortunately, there was no direct links to speak of. However, people still have a way of finding us via the photographs we took. Is it our style? They were, taken from the colorful shoot we did, just last week! Well, all the images from that shoot has been used in both highly publicized site, i.e. Gizmodo AND Engadget, on the same day!!!

Check out the articles itself by clicking the articles below in the Gizmodo site,

and the Engadget site,

San Francisco product photographer burnt by acidic colorful batteries!

2010-02-06T22:56:00.000-08:00

How exciting can it be to be a product photographer, shooting say, 100 pair of shoes on a light table all day. Ok, if you have an assistant, you get to say, "Next!". Otherwise, you're fumbling opening boxes, taking a new pair of shoes out, propping it, stick them in a pose, take some shots, change the angles, adjust the lights, photograph some more, wrap the shoes back, stack the boxes properly, then repeat....times one hundred. Ugh! The thought of that makes me cringe!

What about photographing batteries?!? *groan* What could be worse?!

Well, what has batteries and fashion, colors, beauty have in common? Leave it to the owner of HyperMac to seed that idea, a mere 2 weeks ago. Did I go, "that sounds silly!"? No, we flew a rocket with it!!

(click on images to enlarge)

Too bad we only had one day. The idea _will_ continue with the next shoot, I guarantee it!! These were done using the Profoto D4 power pack, 5-6 light heads and the Canon 1Ds Mark III camera.

About photography lighting... my next class, Lighting for Photographers is on March 21st, 2010 and will be held in Maggiano's in Santana Row. Both our classes, in the last 2 weeks, "Photography Made Simple" and "Model Photography Workshop" were filled to the brim. We expect this one will be as well. So, do sign up before it is filled up. Early bird (before Feb 15th) pays $20 less.

Casa Real Wedding on Gentry magazine Feb 2010

2010-02-02T23:50:00.000-08:00

Back a few months ago, we blogged about a wonderful wedding that we photographed at Pleasanton's Casa Real, Ruby Hill winery. It was showcased in Gentry magazine in August 2009.

The February 2010 wedding issue of Gentry magazine now provide that spread of info, using our photography. Woohoo!!

Photography Made Simple Workshop at Santana Row

2010-01-26T00:39:00.001-08:00

What a super fun weekend!! Over 100+ photographers attended our Photographer Made Simple workshop in Maggiano's Little Italy in Santana Row, San Jose.

Everyone loved the breakfast and lunch!

We got some great comments and emails from the attendees. Here are some great ones,

"Michael, the workshop exceeded my expectations. In addition to being very informative, it was also most enjoyable. From the first minute to the very end I was captivated. Thank you" - Trevor Ngo
"I especially liked Michael's philosophy that to make pictures stand out, they have to be taken from the heart, and it shows in his work"...read more - Michelle Ma
"It was like 10 years of professional skills of composition, lighting, creative view, crop, portrait demo, to some photoshop retouching technique packed into an injection. Voila!" ...read more... - Dee Lee

Here's a shot of the back of my head, facing my class in Maggiano's Little Italy, Santana Row, San Jose.

Now, doesn't it reminds you of this product?

Free advertising for Tag Heuer

2010-01-21T22:22:00.000-08:00

How to Record Video with a Point-and-Shoot Digital Camera - Video Tips interviewed by Marc Silber. Realized after I watched the video that I'm providing a free advertising for Tag Heuer. ;)

San Francisco Bay Area Photographer wishes everyone a Happy Holiday!

2009-12-16T23:11:00.000-08:00

The scent of pine and the sounds of jingle,
Send my senses into a pappy tinkle,
A year ago, my tears a sprinkled,
My seed and I now, a laughter and a wrinkle.

Just came up with the above...it has a deeper story of my family and my life embedded within. But I'm really just writing as a San Francisco, San Jose photographer family, wishing you all a wonderful holiday!

Yes, there is still time to get a family portrait! Give us a call!

Wedding Proposal at Pleasanton's Casa Real, Ruby Hill Winery | Corina and Alex

2009-12-15T23:58:00.000-08:00

I got totally Gentrified photographing the intimate story of a wedding proposal in Casa Real at Ruby Hill Winery, Pleasanton.

The “Entertaining” section of Gentry Magazine the Gentry South Bay August/September edition features a great article entitled "Carpe Diem" is about how to celebrate in style even in today’s tight economy. Which is exactly what Corina and Alex did.

(Click on an image, then use your RIGHT and LEFT arrow keys to go through all of them)

Alex hired Lea McIntosh, the South Bay events designer, to stage his girlfriend Corina’s birthday party at the Casa Real event space at Ruby Hills Vineyard. Except, unbeknownst to Corina, he planned to propose to her as well.

Lea put together an awesome team to do hair, make-up, lighting, and provide limo transportation. Stacie Tamaki of the Flirty Guide even showed up to crown Corina’s birthday cake with a beaded, pineapple-shaped topper containing a necklace. And we got to go along for the fun. We shot lovely candids of Tiffany Chiang and Armando Sarabia helping Corina look her absolute best with beautiful make up and an elegant hairstyle. And we captured the moment that Alex proposed, kneeling gracefully and offering Corina an engagement ring from Dilek Sezen Fine Jewelry.

I got a little misty during many of the special moments of this evening and all the preparations leading up to it—and especially at Corina’s surprise and delight when Alex popped the question. If you want to read more about this charming young couple and Lea’s ideas for creating your own magical event, check out the article. And get inspired.

Tips and tricks for the up and coming photographers

2009-11-20T15:01:00.000-08:00

Tune into the Marc Silber Show and advance your photography. Learn from the likes of Chase Jarvis, Bambi Cantrell and Michael Soo.

A presentation, a class and a talk to 100+ photographers

2009-10-30T16:13:00.000-07:00

I was given 2 days notification to give a 90 minutes presentation to 100+ photographers at Smugmug HQ in Mt View. Despite this being such a short notice, I think the presentation was a major hit !! Check out all the comments below!!!

Tips & techniques to take great family holiday photos

2009-10-29T22:47:00.000-07:00

Photographer Michael Soo shares with us, a load of tips on how to take great family photos in the Marc Silber's Tips and Techniques Show! Check it out!

20 photos featured in MAXIM Magazine

2009-10-20T23:25:00.000-07:00

I've been really privileged to photograph NFL and NBA Cheerleaders for their swimsuit calendars for the past few years and have always look forward to the assignment. These sessions have produced gorgeous individual portraits and calendar shots. And I’ve had a fabulous time. The cheerleaders are just as nice as they are great-looking, and the energy, from start to finish, is totally positive and fun.

Maybe it was that energy that attracted the attention of MAXIM, the international men’s magazine. I was delighted to learn that 20 of my portraits of the Buccaneers cheerleaders recently appeared on its website. This is huge for a couple of reasons. First of all, Maxim usually features only 1-2 images from a photographer. And second, the Maxim website has content that never appears in the magazine. Because of that, it’s become very popular with masculine viewers around the globe.

In this positive spirit, I want to offer a few tips from my experience in photographing women. These tips work, whether you aspire to appear in a magazine or just want to have a great picture of yourself taken. Here goes:

Tip #1 - Unless you haunt the gym and have amazing abs, never face the camera head on. Always angle your body slightly away. You'll appear slimmer and more buffed.

Tip #2 - Turn your face toward the main source of light, which could be the sun, a lamp, or a bright wall. That will throw some of your face into shadow, which is not a bad thing. This brings me to tip #3.

Tip #3 - Show off your strengths and minimize your weaker points. For example, if you think your face is too large, use the shadow created by the light source to make it seem smaller. You can also use your hair to hide parts of your face. Or, if you have beautiful hands, use them to cover areas you don't want to emphasize. The possibilities are endless.

Tip #4 - Chin up! Yep, your mom was right. Lifting your chin just a bit will give you an automatic face lift and help you look self-confident and happy! Very appealing.

Tip #5 – Forget the camera. It’s not there. Yeah, right, that’s really good advice… The camera and the photographer ARE there, which is why you’re there. So here’s a trick to help you feel and look more natural and relaxed: Use your thoughts to create an environment that you love, like the beach or the mountains, and “go” there. You did that time and time again when you were a kid, and your imagination can serve you just as well now.

- Michael Soo

Tutto for your photoshoots

2009-10-01T00:05:00.000-07:00

A bag that I recommend if you are photographing using portable lights, a light stand, battery pack, reflectors and a few other loose equipments. It's a light stand holder, a carry-on lugguage, a battery pack holder, lightstand strap, a sandbag and much much more. No, not affiliated with them but they are quite amazing.

This is a specialized bag that they put together for me. If you want one, call Susan at Tutto and tell them that Michael Soo sent you.

Behind the scenes in the NBA Warrior Girls Calendar shoot

2009-09-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

Behind the scenes footage of the NBA Warrior Girls' swimsuit calendar shoot. Photographed in Napa Valley's own The Meritage Resort. If you have not seen the Trinitas Wine Tasting Cellar of Napa, you have to check it out, it's a cave, a wine tasting bar, a cellar, a spa and a huge traditional banquet hall, all in one.

(View in HD)

Some shots from the calendar:

Photographer for the Napa Wineries

2009-09-22T00:41:00.000-07:00

I love good wine, so maybe I sent out a telepathic message to Dominus Estate, the Yountville-based maker of exquisite, velvety Bordeaux-style wines made in the "terroir" style. For those who don’t know, and I certainly didn’t, this traditional mode of wine-making works magic with climate and soil to produce wonderful vintages.

Anyway, Dominus found me, and we quickly agreed to work together. They gave me three bottles-two to photograph and one to pour from—and a beautiful etched decanter to use in the shots. I loved the decanter, because it does such a great job of showing off the lovely deep purple of the wine.

You’ve probably read it in this blog before...bottles, mirrors, anything glass is tricky to photograph. Glass reflects everything around it and can really wash out detail. That’s a big deal because you need to use at least four different light sources and modifiers to properly light just one bottle. That’s if your goal is to make the bottle look smooth and sleek and ready to leap off the wine merchant’s shelf into the buyer’s arms.

At my studio, we carefully lit the wine and took lots of pictures to arrive at the few Dominus had agreed to purchase. They were so happy with the results, though, that they walked away with double the number of images instead. And I ended up with all three bottles of $120/bottle wines as gifts. Whee!!!

Jewelry Product Photography - Catalog Style

2009-09-14T00:08:00.000-07:00

Catalog photography can get time-consuming to shoot, if nothing, repetitive. That's one of the biggest reason why we are the perfect creative drones for companies who want great catalog photography done. What they don't realize is that, we have a ball when we photograph catalog imagery. Nothing is more fun than working on product photoshoot with a hand model and lots and lots of diamonds and precious stones. Ever tried swimming in a pool of emeralds or bite a eight carat diamond between your teeth? ;-)

After we did some photography for Brilliant Earth's lifestyle photographs that spans throughout their website, we were commissioned to photograph hundreds of their ring shots in their inventory of creative designs. Of course, we were more than thrilled!!! Assistant, pass me my green colored swimming trunk to match the emeralds.

(watch the HD version)

- Michael Soo

Bride and groom's wedding first dance

2009-09-09T01:56:00.000-07:00

You have rehearsed your first dance for the twentieth time. You want it to be elegant, beautiful, perfect. Your veil and wedding dress will drift about you in a whirly waltz. Not any different than the father-daughter dance or the mother-son dance, your expression and emotion changes from second to second. As you reminisce your life that lies behind you and look forward to your amazing future, an emotional modulation from happiness to sadness; flow and ebb, flux within your soul.

(Click on an image, then use your RIGHT and LEFT arrow keys to go through all of them)

This is possibly one of the most beautiful and elegant sliver in weddings that I adore. Yet, this is possibly one of the hardest part in a wedding to photograph (other than the kiss in the church, which is all about timing). You see, lighting for photographers is akin to water to fish. Dance images are always a challenge to shoot, due to how badly lighted the dance floor is, the continual movements of bodies in motion, shifting dance lights and video lights (that the videographers uses-can cause the brightness to veer from too bright-to too dark), the different angles to capture, and most of all, all that to be photographed within 2-3 minutes.

If lady luck smiles upon you, at the end of most weddings, your photographer will hopefully end up with a good 1 to 2 decent but underexposed (aka dark or badly lighted) images. They will most likely processed it into black & white, and claim it as art, or make it into a brownish sepia and chalk it off as creative. The pictures are usually very grainy and if you danced slow enough, the images will just be a little blurred.

My recommendation? One of the biggest question to ask your photographer is to have him/her show you A DOZEN of their dance images from A SINGLE wedding. That's possibly one of the best indicator on his creativity, lighting skills and how well he can tango! To start off with the challenge, here are my dozen, shot a mere few days ago, last Saturday, for Jenn and Matt in Maggiano's Little Italy's lovely banquet room.

- Michael Soo

NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders 2009/2010 Swimsuit Calendar released!

2009-09-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

After the long wait, the 2009/2010 swimsuit calendar that we photographed about 3 months ago for the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers has been released during Training Camp! It's definitely a hit as the calendar was sold out during the first week of release!!!! Woozah!!

Well, what are you waiting for? Order the calendar NOW! It makes a great gift! I'm getting 50-60 of them, one way or another. ;-)

- Michael Soo

Our 8 feet lightbox at Smugmug's Mountain View entryway

2009-08-28T01:10:00.000-07:00

I gotto say, I can never get enough of a photograph on a beautiful lightbox. It just enhances the image so beautifully. That's also why we were so thrilled to have our image showcased in the main entryway to Smugmug's headquarters in Mountain View, California.

Not only that, it's enlarged up to a life size of 8 feet tall !!! With me being a super tall guy, standing at 5 feet 5 inches, that monstrous light panel is almost twice as tall! Well, almost. ;-)

Chris MacAskill had to use a double lightbox (I seem to be using the terms interchangeably due to how similar they are to each other these days) for the image. Check it out below, with the image on the right being the original image. Whee!!!

Retreat, hotel and a zen-like wedding venue

2009-08-25T17:31:00.000-07:00

I've always liked boutique hotels. The role of theme designs play a huge role to make guests feel connected and comfortable. The hotel acts as the sum of a well-planned design, which is a rare sight in the world we live in. Ask me about it. In my college years, I would buy pieces of furniture from various shops due mostly to budget constraints. The apartment feel disconnected, from a design point of view. An orchestrated design makes one feel soulful about the surroundings.

Menlo Park's spanking new Rosewood Hotel, nestled at the edge of Santa Cruz Mountains is designed as a calm California Ranch architecture is a boutique hotel of this sort. The food and art pieces are no different. They only use local ingredients and local artists. The texture (see the five images above) tells a tale about what the hotel's design theme is all about.

We photographed Cathy and Michael's wedding there. As they are rather private people, I'll only showcase a small handful of selected images (without the usual slideshow) in this blog.

Do NOT, however, mistake private for boring. How often do you see a cake_in_the_face during a wedding cake cutting?

- Michael Soo

Unique Wedding Guestbooks Search!

2009-07-27T02:56:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, our regular bookmaker that crafts our handmade wedding guest books went into retirement. They were kind enough to give us ample notice. So, we jumped right ahead to find a new guestbook maker that meets our expectations and demands...and boy, are we demanding?!

To start our search, we requested catalogs from over twenty vendors. We narrowed down the search to eight based on their quality, turnaround time and elegance. We then purchased sample covers, papers and swatches from these eight vendors and picked four. We ordered sample books from all four. As you can imagine, the cost for this search, was quite high.

One came really close to what we want. Their pages are great as they can be signed using any regular pen. They have a variety of genuine leather covers. The colors of our engagement photos turned out incredibly accurate. The B&W which are typically hard to reproduce came out beautifully. However, the pages are thin and the size of the album isn't royal enough for us. So, our search continued.

The winner guest book that made it, is now beautifully shown above. It is 10x10", comes with a nice box and is wrapped in soft fabric to protect the album from scratches. Beautiful soft leather smother the album, is smooth to the touch. The pages are thick, images spread panoramic across. It lays flat without any center seems. Overall, a fantastic book!

We can't wait to produce more of these for our other clients using images from their engagement session!

- Michael Soo